The End of the Wonderland
by Mintsikka
Summary: At that moment she prayed that the shadows had knocked out Miss Martian. So the team hadn't heard it all through their mental link. T for possible swearing.
1. Prologue

"How can a little girl from a family like yours, be a part of a super_hero_ team anyway?"

The voice with an Asian accent continued "Wouldn't it cause a little too much suspicions? - Trust issues are so difficult to overcome."

Her reaction to villain's out spoken thoughts gave away more than she would have wanted.

"Oh you haven't told them yet?" Cheshire guessed

"Smart move but you also should have eliminated those who know your secret. It's the rule number 67. Have you forgotten everything _our_ father taught us?"

At that moment she prayed that the shadows had knocked out Miss Martian. So the team hadn't heard it all through their mental link. But because it was her and her luck she wasn't surprised when the link started lagging because of overdrive of their emotions.

Only thing she heard clearly was Robin saying "Hey there's no reason to get overwhelmed. Just stay whelmed."

Right after that the link was down.


	2. Lost Control

**Lost control**

* * *

**Mount Justice**

**November 2, 22.16 EST**

She couldn't believe that all this time Robin had known her secret. _And he didn't care_. The concept was weird and creepy. _How had he find it out?_ '_Does it really matter?_' had been his answer and she had to admit her lost. _He was right. He knew and that's it. _

Still after everything that had happened at their last mission, she concerned herself lucky. If Megan hadn't cried like Niagara falls, Supey would have had her head by now. Most likely literally. Instead he operated as Megan's personal towel and seemed to be the only thing keeping the poor girl from collapsing to the ground. Rest of the teams reactions were unreadable. She didn't dare to look at Wally. She didn't want to see hate in his emerald eyes. She rather kept her memories of him as they were. Comfy and bickerish.

She had told them everything. She really hadn't had a choice. _Yeesh thanks Jade. You had to reveal my family history now? Just when they had started to trust me - even KF. Just when he had stopped thinking me as Roy's replacement. _

'_If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does.' _

She had told them everything about. her mom. dad. sister. her own crimes. She didn't want to but it wasn't her call. Nothing ever was. She had really believed that she had finally gained some control of her life when she had decided to make her own 'rabbit hole'. Now life was mocking at her with her fathers words, 'stupid naive little girl'.

There was no turning back from this. Things will never be the same as before.

"Now that you know about my family I understand if you want me out.. of the cave.. and the team." She said calmly. When nobody said argued her "I will not bother you again."

"I want you all know that I had the best time of my life here with you." She said with a genuine but wistful smile on her face.

With those words she headed for the zeta tubs. _This was it. It's time for Alice to say good bye to her wonderland and go home._

Wally grabbed her wrist impulsively. "Artemis, don't go." He begged her.

"We understand that you had to do all those things. You were just a little girl you had to obey your father. We understand that you didn't have a choic-"

She snapped and the smiling Artemis was gone in lesser than a second. In her place was the angriest Artemis any of them had ever seen. Even angrier than the time Wally had broken her bow. That was the angriest nobody ever believed she could be – or rather hoped.

Wally wondered if it was healthy to be that moody. Even for a spitfire that was a bit hasty.

"Says the boy, who gets everything he wants whenever he wants."

"Hey what is THAT supposed to mean?"

"How dare you even say that you understand? How could you know anything. Everything always comes so easy on you. Your life has been a piece of cake! Quite literal one!" Her free hand accompanying her sayings with dramatic hand motions.

She raised her hand. And his hand with it. She was little surprised how easy it was. She had thought Wally had a lot better hold of her.

"You have no idea how I feel." She broke away from his grip with one quick but strong move.

"KF, let her go." Robin said trying to hold back his friend who was trying to get another grip. "Right now she needs to get whelmed with the fact we know. It wasn't really her choice to tell us in the first place." They watched Artemis' back from distance. A bright light flashed and she was gone.

Wally accepted his argument and refocused his anger to the leader. "Kaldur you should have stop this! How can you let a member of our team storm out just like that?"

"You know it yourself Wally, with that mood on, no one could have stopped her."

"Not even Batman" Robin added with slight snicker in his voice.

"What's so funny?" Wally didn't quite match Artemis' rage but it was enough to quiet little bird.

"That doesn't make it right." Wally claimed silently

Martian girl wiped tears off her face revealing determined eyes. "We need to find her. She's our teammate."

"No. Technically she just resigned from the team." Supey noted dryly

_What was it with archers and resigning anyway? Are the good and reliable archers just that hard to find? How many archer did resign before the league found GA?_ Wally snickered hollowly.

Robin looked at him with even more worried look on his face. He had ranted to him about laughing lesser than a minute ago and now he is laughing himself? That's just not turbing at all.

"She's still our friend and my Earth sister. I need her." Megan stated trying to stay tough. She couldn't stop the tears. Her eyes were wet and the tears almost drained across her face again bearing the determined look in her eyes. Her voice had cracked during the word 'friend'.

Conner's face softened as she looked his girlfriend in the eyes. Sportmaster's daughter really meant a lot to her. He didn't understand how she could still trust her. She had obviously been the mole all along. It wasn't logical. "OK, we will find her and talk things through."

"So we are going after her, right?" Wally's face brightened.

"No, you are not." Batman said emphasizing every word. "I've a mission for you."

"Forgive me my suspicions but another mission this soon? " Kaldur asked. Even he was hesitant.

"What about Artemis? I have never seen her so angry." Megan was again bursting to tears.

"This is relevant."

Wally fully ignored Bats' orders and the Bats himself.

He followed Artemis' footsteps and zetad away without saying a word.

Robin was right behind Wally. "I'm not in the mood for sacrificing friendship for sake of _your_ mission so if you excuse me." Kaldur thought his hard work was finally paying of. But the truth was Robin was scared of his mentor's reaction. He tried to rebel in the most polite way to avoid possible penalties.

Inspired by Wally, Megan gave Superboy a glance. "I'm sorry Mr. Batman but Artemis needs her sister."

"She means herself, not Cheshire." Conner immediately corrected. And they were gone as well.

Only Kaldur was left standing in front of the Batman. "With all respect I believe my place is with my team."

Kaldur turned his back and didn't see Batman nodding in understanding.

* * *

**A/N:**

I know this is very short but the chapters aren't going to be any longer : P

In the end this is probably something that somebody would just post as an one-shot

I like reviews and people pointing out my mistakes.. (grammar and typos) I know there are many.. So please tell me so i can fix them : P


	3. Do your research

**Do your research**

* * *

**Gotham city**

**November 2, 23.02 EST**

Robin tried to catch up to Wally. He had to call his name four times before he slowed down enough.

"Rob, how long have you known?"

"Ever since she joined." the younger boy answered hesitantly. He wasn't sure what Wally would do with that information.

"OK, so how much you know about her?"

"Not that much. Apparently she likes to keep things to herself even in civvies." He chuckled but briefly continued

"She lives in small outdated apartment in Northern Gotham city, with her mom who is in wheelchair.

She knows that I know her identity and believes that I don't know that she knows mine." Rob was particularly amused by that one but he kept on listing. His speed only increased till the end.

"Her favorite fairytale as a kid was 'Alice in the Wonderland'. She still knows most lines and likes to quote it every once in a while. She doesn't knowledge it and when she realizes that she quoted it out loud she feels embarrassed and wishes she could crawl in the hole and die.

She has several permanent scars from the old times. One under her hand band, couple around her knees, and her chests. She tries her best to hide them with clothes or make up. But since I know about them, it isn't always complete success." Robin had a devil like grin on his face. He was clearly enjoying the situation.

"She hates her nickname 'Arty' so badly because her dad used it.

Oh and she still sleeps with a teddy bear." He listed with a speed that would have been admirable even from speedsters mouth.

Robin was excited about the fact that he could finally share his discoveries with a friend and wanted to continue his list but his friend had lost the track during the first finding "Wait. Wait. Slow down. She lives in Gotham?" _So that's why we are at Gotham city. _Wally mentally 'Hello Megan':ed himself.

Robin wanted to mock speedster for being so slow but it wasn't the time.

"Yeah and attends to Gotham academy."

"Oh isn't that like super expensive?"

"Yeah but she got a Full Wayne Foundation's scholarship" He said so proudly that if Wally hadn't already known his true identity his cheeky tone would have revealed it.

"You knew she was hiding something, right?" Robin continued briefly trying to cover his ass. She's going to be so dethrilled when she finds out how much he had just told 'Kid Idiot'.

"Yes but honestly how could someone not notice that. She acts so mysteriously. It was just obvious that she was hiding something. I had no idea what. And didn't want to ask. It would have just shut her down. But I never believed that it would be something so major as her entire family."

"To you family is important. But not every family is like yours." The other boy muttered looking at the ground. Wally saw how the bird clenched his fists.

"Yeah. Yeah. 'Family is important but it doesn't define what you are or what you will become.' I know."

Martian interrupted their conversation by linking the teams minds together.

"Everybody on line?"

"Can you trace Artemis?" Kaldur asked before others could answer

"N-no. She must be out of my reach."

"How is that possible? She left right before us. She can't be that far away!" Wally's voice was furious.

"WALLY!" Supey shouted out loud. Even though the rest of the team hadn't reached Wally and Robin, they heard his yell.

Wally just gulped. He didn't want to face Supey's anger.

Robin put his hand on Wally's shoulder trying to make him whelmed.

"I have a signal but it's low."

* * *

**Gotham city**

**November 2, 23.05 EST**

_How come there are never any criminals in sight when I need a punching bag? I can't go back and use the cave's training rooms, t__he gyms are already closed because it is middle of the night, __and I don't have one at home_. Note to self: buy one! It might be the best purchase of your life. 

She thought as she saved a cat from a tree. Artemis wasn't a cat person and the cat apparently wasn't a Artemis person. Her arms were now scratched. The cat's owner wasn't very grateful either. In his opinion the archer had caused more harm to his cat's health than actually help his poor Napoleon. Artemis considered of teaching the boy some manners but it probably would have gotten her behind the bars which would automatically call in the league or even worse.. the team.

That however, didn't mean that she couldn't bite back and defend herself. "My arrow didn't give him even a scratch unlike he did to me."

"It isn't his physical health I'm worried about. You might have caused him some trauma." She finally looked at the boy properly. He had nice clothes like really fancy. So was his hair that was neatly combed. _He probably goes to Gotham academy - without a scholarship._

"Tsch. I don't know who do you think you are but if you are so worried why don't you go ahead and take your cat to a psychologist. I'm sure there will be somebody who understands _your_ problems."

"You know, you are a bit too cranky to be a _real _hero." The kid certainly knew where to hit. 'It was much pleasanter at home, when one wasn't always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and rabbits.'

"Look kid. If I was you I would quickly go home or at least get the hell out of my sight before I call the cops. It is a bit late for a kid your age to be out."

"So what? It's not like my parents give a fuck where I am when I am!" That was not something you usually hear from rich boys mouth. At least Artemis hadn't and she did spend her most of her time with rich kids.

"I bet your parents or some gossip magazines would be little more interested about you when you come home with polices accompany." The boys face was worth seeing and he and his dear cat disappeared soon enough.

Who would have thought that rich people's kids have pretty much the same problems as poor ones?

She had done only everyday hero stuff all night. And everyday hero stuff was dull. It wasn't real action. You can't kick, punch, or beat anyone.

This was Gotham city for crying out loud. It's supposed to be the nest of criminals!

* * *

**Gotham city**

**November 3, 00.02 EST**

"I'm so sorry, Wally. She isn't here.

Don't worry. We will find her.

We just need a new plan.

Team? I found the source. She ditched her locator to the lake."

"So what's the plan?" Superboy asked.

"Now we divide and go look for her."Kaldur said firmly "Robin, I have understood that you know her the best. Do you know places where she enjoys to spend time?"

"I'm way ahead of you. I've already sent GPS locations to you all."

The boy wonder glanced at his friend who seemed to be looking at a rock that was few inches apart from his left foot. "I will go with KF. He's is still little unstable."

KF didn't hear a thing of others discussion. His ability to focus was gone with Artemis. And that ability wasn't his most well-developed one in the first place. Robin had actually counted on it when he had questioned his stability out loud. If he had payed attention, he would have made Robin regret he ever met Wallace Rudolph West.

Wally picked up the triangle shaped rock that seemed to haunt him. On second thought the rock looked more like an arrows tip than a triangle. Her arrows tip. He put it to his pocket.

The rest of the team paired up too. Miss Martian and Superboy and Aqualad had called Red Arrow to help.

Kaldur had had to invoke to how he had helped him with that Lex Luthor case back in September and how he had promised to help the team in need but he finally joined the search. However, he wasn't bucked about finding the Sportmasters daughter that others called a teammate.

* * *

**A/N:**

So many Usual suspect feels right now and there were some similarities to this fanfic.. And now I feel like a copy cat.. I swear I had wrote it earlier before watching Usual suspects. So I'll continue this to it's end.. But it doesn't feel the same anymore..

But really that means that I'm not totally OOC with them, right?

Robin's discoveries=list all my headcanons in one speech :P


	4. Archer knows an archer

**Archer knows an archer**

* * *

**Grant Park, Gotham city**

**November 3, 01.04 EST**

_It would be nice to see the stars properly. Of course that is impossible with city's lights right next to you, you can barely come to conclusion that it's night._

Artemis had finally found safe and quiet place where she could think.

She had climbed a high tree. A Basswood to be exact. It wasn't the easiest to climb. the lowest branches were around 2 meters from ground. But it wasn't like it was her first tree she had climbed. She had spent most of her childhood in a tree, partly because it was part of her training, partly because she enjoyed it. It was one of the only things in the training that wasn't only full of suffering.

In Gotham city there was far too much city for her liking. The parks were small and there were only low trees. She couldn't escape the skyscrapers that dominated the view even if she climbed on the treetop.

"So Robin has known probably from the start. Now come to think of it. It actually makes sense. The boy has been trained by the goddamn Batman. I guess it was a little naive to think only I know his secrets. Kaldur is disappointed but probably accepts me back. Megan is still my earth sister. I'm sure of it. She's just kind of girl who cries at times like these", she assured to herself. "And Superboy needs just time and a conversation with Megan. She can convince him to almost anything. Like the time she convinced him to have dinner with Superman, of course Superman didn't agree but it was a milestone for him to even reply on the invitation."

"Wally's reaction was just odd. Like he had been okay with everything I just told them. Like there hadn't been nothing to worry about."

She huffed in frustration and she had every right to be frustrated _'It would be so nice if something made sense for a change.'_

The branch she was sitting on suddenly jolted. She instantly went to battle mode. She had her bow aimed for the possible attacker under two nanoseconds.

"Speedy? What are you doing up here?"

"It's Red Arrow. And you. Are. Not. Allowed. To blame your _flimsy_ memory. I was never introduced to you as Speedy." He obviously hated that name more than she had imagined.

"So you own this tree or something? Yeeesh. If you want to keep it all to yourself you should put 'Private area' sign up."

Artemis growled.

"Thing is the team is looking for you."

"And you are here because..?"

"I owe Aqualad. Now would you stop pointing me with that?" He said in annoyance (or in _anRoyance_ as Artemis liked to call it) pointing at her arrow.

Green archer relaxed her arm and put her bow back and slumped back to her original position. Looking other way.

"How much did they tell you?"

"You are daughter of Sportsmaster and Huntress." "Ex-Huntress." "Like that would make a difference. And Cheshire is your sister.. Is there more to know?"

Of course there was!_ 'That's nothing to what I could say if I chose._'

"Nope. That pretty much covers it all." She wasn't going to tell him about _her own_ criminal record which was pretty long too. Her only hope was that Kaldur hadn't told him anything more than he claimed he knew.

"So why are _you_ here?" Roy trailed.

This time she decided to go with honest approach. It seemed to work better with Roy than general politeness or.. well anything. It had been proven many times. The older archer was impossible to work nor get along with. "I just needed some air to breath. and alone time to think."

"I see. So where are you gonna go from here?"

"I dunno. Home?"

"Haw-haw. Very funny. I meant the bigger picture."

He glanced up at the stars.

"How long you really think you can hide from the team?"

"I'm not hiding.." He gave her a questioning look "OK maybe I am but it's only temporary."

"OK then." He said and stood up. He began to climb down

"Hey, aren't you gonna turn me in?"

"Nah. I don't really understand why we are looking for you. You clearly are not in danger. We are only putting ourselves in danger. Trying to find a timid girl with a bow that she barely can use sounds like a suicide to me."

Yeah 'We are all mad here'. She mentally quoted but replied with rolling her eyes. "Oh please" Then she narrowed her eyes "FYI I practiced archery long before you even knew what crossbow was."

"Whatever you say Blondie."

She soon found herself hoping he would have turned her in. It would have been easier to return if she had been forced to. Act like she really didn't want to come back. Now I will surely have to growl back and beg for the membership.

* * *

**Gotham city**

**November 3, 01.45 EST**

Roy contacted the team as soon as he was sure her location wasn't easily inferred from his.

He took a deep breath predicting what was about to come.

"I found her. She was OK." Roy said to the communicator and waited for "Where is she?" reaction. Which for his surprise came from Wally's mouth.

"It doesn't matter." Roy said coolly but for the rest of the team it sounded cold.

"How can you say that? Of course it matters!" Megan cried out loud.

"Our mission was to convince her to stay in the team." Conner said mentally questioning the statement he had just made.

"Hey don't you BASH ME! I found her and reported back to you! Just like I was TOLD TO DO!" Roy shouted facing Wally.

"Good job, my friend. You have been the most helpful." Kaldur said trying to calm the oldest but obviously the worst tempered boy. "I believe it is time for us to return to the cave." He said like he had only heard what Roy said first.

"WHAT? NO!" Wally was knocked down with a feather.

"We need to find her. I'm not leaving my sister out ." Megan sobbed

"We did and that's enough for now. Her pride wont allow her to proceed any longer with this tonight." The Atlantean said with rugged voice.

They all knew that what he said was true. Artemis needed to sleep on it. They all needed. Green girl nodded in defeat turning to lean on her boyfriend but Wall-man wasn't going to quit that easily.

"Fine. I will find her by myself."

"No, you're not. I'm coming with you. You need a voice of reason with you." Robin gave him a everything's-gonna-be-OK smile.

Wally had digged the arrow rock from his pocket and fingered the rock "Thanks Bro but I already have a reason that has a voice." Wally said grinning at the acrobat.

_'Read the directions and directly you will be directed in the right direction.' _Wally memorized as he dashed to meet his reason face to face.

_I so should have predicted this._ The boy wonder sighed rotating his head.

"So how long have Kid Quick-at-everything-but-thinking-things-through and blondie been together?" Roy asked pointing the dust cloud behind him with his thumb. "Why am I the last to know?"

* * *

**Review? :')**


	5. Who Seeks Finds

This chapter has been sitting on the doc manager far too long and it's far too short. I tried to continue it but then ending a chapter there just didn't work.

Hope you enjoy fluff.

* * *

**Who seeks finds**

* * *

**Gotham city**

**November 3, 07.30 EST**

_Think. Wally think. If I were an angry archer, where would I go?_ He mentally commanded himself but it didn't seem to have any impact on his thinking speed. His thoughts were wandering.

He was at Gotham's McDonald's loading his batteries. So to speak. He didn't really pay attention to what he ate which was weird. He was always interested about food and enjoyed analyzing the ingredients.

It had been a tough night. He hadn't seen even a glimpse of her and was starting to drown in desperation.

_Maybe I should call Rob for help. He was willing to help in the first place. WHY DIDN'T I LET HIM? He knows Gotham city better than I do. And evidently Artemis too. _He sighed. _I didn't know where she lived and didn't even think that she could live outside star city while Robin knew that she lived in Gotham. I didn't know she had a sister. Robin did. I didn't know she liked Alice in the Wonderland. Robin did. The list could go on forever.__ She was right I don't know her at all._

Then it hit him.

_Robin_.

_Robin Hood!_

_He's an archer and lives in woods. _

_Archers like forests. _

_Artemis is an archer._

"Where's the nearest forest?" He asked from the waitress who was surprised he could even talk.

"Er.. Grant Park is pretty close. It's not exactly a forest but there are enough trees for you to feel like you're in one."

"Perfect. Thanks, beautiful." The waitress was taken aback.

He left his hamburger behind. It was only half eaten.

* * *

**Grant Park**

**November 3, 08.02 EST**

Speedster chuckled a little when he saw her. His rationalizing had been correct. He saw her in a tree. She would have blended there very well if she hadn't had those _beautiful_ golden locks. They were a little over her waist and were easy to spot from green surrounding. It was a quite beautiful sight. The moon was still up but unfortunately so was sun. The moon was the weaker opponent. He wished he had found her a little sooner when the moon had been fully up and there hadn't been a slightest hence of the sun. It would have been perfect. He would have climbed next to her and she would have cried on his shoulder. OK maybe not but a boy can dream, right?

"Hey, Art!" he shouted. Artemis flinched at the sudden loud voice that came right below her. Wally watched as she lost her balance and fell off the tree. He tried to catch her but the tree's root strongly disagreed.

As a result Wally was laying on the ground and Artemis on his hands while his face was on her crotch.

"Ouch! You son of.."

"The Flash?" He offered with a stupid smirk on his face. It wasn't even true.. He wasn't Flash's son or related to him. He was Kid Flash but he wasn't Flash's kid. She argued in her head giving herself a headache. Shortly put it wasn't exactly the word she was looking for but it'd have to do because there were more alerting things occurring at the moment.

"Ew. Will you stop drooling? That's just gross" She pushed his face away from her lap. "Can do only if you get up." He was stuck. She wasn't as light as she looked. Not that she was heavy but she was still a person.

She did as she was told. For her unfortune she wobbled a little and fell back. This time KF actually managed to catch her properly.

"You OK?"

"Just fine, thanks." She said dusting her clothes. When she noticed that the dirt wasn't coming off with just dusting she gave up.

"You sure?" He knew her well enough to know that whenever she was 'Just fine, thanks'. She wasn't fine at all. "That's a high fall. You might have a concussion or something."

She just stared at him. Like he was the one with suspected concussion. "Wally. What's wrong with you? I mean why there isn't anything wrong with you? Are you cool with my family?" She stumbled. He mentally noted himself: 'She definitely got a concussion.'

"I wouldn't say cool. That would mean that I accept criminality. And me being a superhero that wouldn't really work." He grinned. But when he realized that her face changed paler and paler by every second, he quickly continued "but I will have to accept your background, because I accept you. You became who you are today because of it all. So I'm grateful for your family. Even if it is not something I would wish for anyone. Not even for my mortal enemies. And I'm not just saying that. I have a quite a lot of them."

"Here's a Disney quote that fits and I like it. 'You must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul' It's from Ratatouille."

"O..kay.. Wow.. uh thanks, Wally. You have no idea how much that means to me. I thought you were gonna freak out and hate me."

"There is no reason for you to worry things like that, _Alice_."

"What did you just call me?"

He gulped. Next thing that comes out from his mouth could ruin everything. He chose his words carefully. "I-I heard that you have some serious reasons to hate 'Arty' so I-I thought you might prefer 'Alice' sin-since you like Alice in wonderland. So much"

She narrowed her eyes. _I'm pretty sure I didn't mention anything about 'Arty' or 'Alice in wonderland' last night. Or did I?_

"How much you know, Baywatch? Spill it."

"Enough"

She growled. "Who told you?"

She knew very well who was behind Wally's knowledge but she also knew that he wasn't going to tell the little birds identity._ 'Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you're at.~'_

For her surprise his arms gently pulled her into a hug. He was warm because he was. Well a speedster. She on the other hand was cool from spending the whole night in a tree.

When he pulled away, he never let go of her hand without a warning he began to drag her towards the zeta-beams.

"Come on, we need to go check your head."

She pulled away from the boy's grip. "Are you sure you aren't the one who needs to get ones head checked?"

Wally just stared at her with a dull expression. "The zeta beam is _this_ way." She pointed to the opposite direction.

He wasn't really the one to argue. His sense of direction had never been the best.

"You couldn't last an hour alone."

* * *

**Review, plz?**

This is probably bad time to tell you the next chapter is going to take even longer than this one.. I'm partly considering making the next chapters to sequel to make it easier to you..

But yeah this story is going to get some action in the future it's not going to be all fluff like this chapter was..


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